PICO framework.
| PICO element | Description |
|---|---|
| Population (P) | Children, adolescents, and adults diagnosed with ankyloglossia or reduced lingual mobility, with or without associated oral functional complaints (e.g., altered tongue posture, swallowing difficulties, and oral motor dysfunction). |
| Intervention (I) | Lingual frenectomy (performed with scalpel, laser, or plasma devices), or orofacial/OMT, alone or in combination. |
| Comparison (C) | Pre- and postintervention assessments within the same participants; comparisons between surgical intervention alone versus combined surgical and myofunctional approaches when available. |
| Outcome (O) | Reported oral functional outcomes, including tongue mobility, tongue strength, resting tongue posture, swallowing-related tasks, oral motor coordination, muscle activity (sEMG), and patient- or caregiver-reported functional measures. |
PICO: population, intervention, comparison, outcome; OMT: orofacial myofunctional therapy; sEMG: surface electromyography.
During the preparation of this work, the authors used AI-assisted technologies for language editing and improvement of text clarity. After using these tools, the authors carefully reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the final manuscript.
AMI: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Resources, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Visualization, Project administration. GM: Methodology, Formal analysis, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration. LPZ: Conceptualization, Validation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Supervision. SS: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Visualization, Supervision. FI: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration. DVD: Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Supervision. GI: Methodology, Formal analysis, Supervision, Project administration. AP: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Resources, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Visualization, Supervision. GD: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Resources, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Visualization, Project administration. ADI: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Gaetano Isola, who is the Associate Editor of Exploration of Medicine, had no involvement in the decision-making or the review process of this manuscript. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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The primary data for this systematic review were sourced online from databases listed in the methods. Referenced articles are accessible on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Additional supporting data are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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